Not Kipling's Mandalay

Bicycling to a winery in Myanmar – what more can you say?  Maybe that it was somewhat other-worldly, dusty and the wine was not half-bad.  I’ll let the photos say the rest. 

An Oxcart Along the Way

The View from the Winery - Pampas Grass and Inle Lake in Background

 We departed our favorite place so far in this country - Nyaungshwe.  Below is a photo from the roof bar of the sunset and the sunrise on the way to the airport. 

We arrived in Mandalay on our KBZ flight from Heho airport with no problems.  Whew!  After we told a couple we met from Switzerland about our flight, they wished us luck!  Luck was, in this case, on our side I guess!  So far, we have had power outages four times – make that 5 - in Myanmar, including two (3) in Mandalay.  This city is flat and not very attractive.  They also do not believe in stop signs or traffic lights, so intersections are a nightmare.  Add to that the fact that they drive on the right AND the steering wheel is on the right and it’s total chaos! 
The day we arrived, I took a taxi with 3 people from Poland to Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset.  They were interesting and photographers, so I picked up some hints and got a few good shots.  It’s 1700 stairs to the top, but we cheated and were dropped off up there and just walked down, arriving just at dark. 

View from

View From My Room

Today, my friends and I went to U Bein’s Bridge, the longest teak footbridge in the world and it was really cool!  The morning light was beautiful and a little misty.  We hired a boat paddler to take us across and walked back – a really great way to see the bridge from the water!  They paddle standing up and crossing their oars in a very rhythmic way. Our boatman was huffing and puffing by the time we reached the other side.  He told us he was 65 in between gasps for air!  Poor man!  We gave him a workout, but we paid him well. 

 

We also met a young girl who was selling trinkets and while I was being annoyed at her following us everywhere (I don’t like touts) my friends found out all kinds of useful information about the bridge, her, the crops being grown under the bridge during the dry season (peanuts, corn, tomatoes, sunflowers), etc.  I admit I was wrong in this case.  She was a wealth of information, even showing us little roasted mice that “the men eat when they drink beer”.  Sounds yummy! 

Mice - Yuk!

Sea Snacks

 

 

Tonight we go to Super 81, a delicious Chinese restaurant we discovered and then to see the moustache brothers.  These guys do political satire and two of them have spent a number of years in prison as a result.  They are now out, thanks in part to several actors and comedians including Rob Reiner and Bill Maher.  Supposedly, tourists can go with no problems but locals cannot.  Tomorrow, we’re off to Bagan by bus.  There are hundreds of temple ruins in Bagan, rivaling Angkor Wat.  I’m looking forward to it and will report from there.

 

 

 

 

A Matter of Balance!

Some Photos of Fishermen

 








Yesterday, we rented a boat for - are you ready?  ............ $15 US for a six-hour tour, a six-hour tour.  The weather started getting rough.  Sorry, I got caught up in a Gilligan's Island moment!
Really though, I'm not sure why people say the Myanmar is expensive.  It hasn't been so far.  I guess, compared to Thailand, hotels cost more, but everything else is very reasonable.
So, back to Inle Lake.  The size of it alone is awesome and it generates its own weather.  We are in the mountains - about 3,000 feet.  The days are hot, but the mornings and evenings are cool - very similar to Sonoma County.  Fisherman in Inle really do use long skinny boats and stand on one foot while paddling with the other foot and fishing at the same time!  I can barely stand on one foot!
They move gracefully through the water and it is really amazing to watch.  In addition to the fisherman, there are many people gathering lake grass with boats sitting low in the water full of mud and grass.  We guessed that they are building up their "islands", but really don't know for sure. 

A Temple and Some Scenes Along the Way On the Lake

We visited weavers, silversmiths, blacksmiths, cigar makers and a shop supposedly set up by Aung San Suu Kyi to support the local Karen people.  It was all fascinating - and, of course, we bought some stuff.  Our hotel, while lovely with very nice rooms and kind people, is on the main canal out to the lake.  The canal is a major commerce route with boats carrying people, building materials, vegetables and pretty much anything, starting around 5:00 a.m.  I'm happy to be slightly hard of hearing!

Above Photos: Karen Beanhuskers, Cigar Maker, Weaver

Today is bicycle riding, hopefully to the winery around here - or somewhere else and tomorrow we fly to Mandalay.  Our airline, KBZ, is also a bank!  Wish us luck!

Taungoo to Naungshwe and Inle Lake

Some Scenes Along the Way



Stopping Traffic for the Train

We have spent 16 hours on trains!  We left Taungoo and traveled by train to Thazi.  When we arrived at the train station, there were no upper class, first class or second class seats available.  It is usually not allowed for tourists to ride "ordinary class" but there we were.  An exception was made and therein began one of the most bizarre trips ever!  We have all agreed that this is the thing we will remember and talk about.  There were way too many people for the seats available and that's not including the baskets, blankets, wrapped up packages .  .  .  well, you get the idea!  It was insane with people walking through the over-crowded cars yelling - hawking their wares, whether that be beer, water, some slimy looking juice in a plastic bag, corn on the cob, rice with questionable meat - bizarre! 
The night in Thazi is one that none of us really care to remember.  While it wasn't terrible, it was a place to crash.  The guesthouses in Thazi are not even listed anywhere and, just after we sat down to eat in our guesthouse restaurant, the power went out throughout the town!  Wonderful!

Pony Cart

The next day we were taken by horse-drawn carts to the train station where we purchased upper class seats to Shenwaung.  This train was a very different experience!  While the first one was 6 hours, this was 10!  However, there was room to stretch, stand up, even lie down and the ride was very, very slow - sometimes going backwards.  We even stopped so some workmen in longyis could load old railroad timber onto the train.  There were children everywhere waving and smiling as the train climbed higher into the mountains, passing through jungle, dry brush, Dr. Seuss trees and lots of small villages.  Beautiful!
We are now in the town of Naungshwe which is a great place.  There are tourists here - more than we've seen anywhere and you can tell it is on the verge of exploding.  I'm glad we've come before that as it will be very different I imagine in 10 years.  We've finally found some really decent food (not an easy task in Myanmar),  some good wine (even more difficult) and are happy to be here and looking forward to exploring the lake and bicycling around.  Fun!


   

Cauliflower

The Market



Women Doing Laundry

Some of the people I've encountered:

  

A Boy and Ducklings




A Helpful Family in Thazi

 

Some Girls in Naungshwe
Burmese People are Great Squatters!



Fun Monks

Nuns With Cool Hats

Tomorrow - Off to explore Inle Lake!

Greetings from Myanmar

Yesterday was Pagoda Day and the photos in today’s blog were taken at Shwedagon Pagoda – the largest pagoda in Yangon, and it is huge!  There are 15 temples, the big pagoda and a smaller one and hundreds and hundreds of statues of Buddha.  It was very lovely.  I spent quite a bit of time there, visiting each of the temples and just sitting in the shade and listening to the breeze and the temple bell ringing.

         

Some Very Young Nuns

Shwedagon Pagoda from the Top



A Texting Monk

          

 

Today we left the bustling city of Yangon and headed North by bus to Taungoo – a half-way spot between Yangon and our next destination, Inle Lake.  The guest house where we stayed in Yangon booked our bus for us.  It was a little funky, but it was fine except for the really bad Burmese soap opera and music videos that played at loud volume.   This place seems on the verge of becoming “Westernized” and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  People who in Yangon say traffic has increased greatly since allowing cars to be imported a few years ago.  Roads are being built and things are changing quickly.  I’m happy to be here now!  

Some Unlucky Ducks

Our "Taxi" in Taungoo

There were now five of us as we met some new people from Vail, Colorado who decided to follow us to Taungoo.  Once again, we are struck by the kindness and honesty of the Burmese people.  We arrived in Taungoo which is definitely not a tourist town and were bombarded at the bus station by young men with betel-stained teeth wanting to take us to our hotel.  Chuck rode the back of a motorbike while the other four of us rode on a one-passenger three-wheeled man-powered bicycle.  These young men have some serious leg muscles!  My ass barely fit in the seat and he was peddling me and my backpack, sometimes in traffic and sometimes on sandy roads – and for 2,000 kyat which is about $2.00!  All the way (probably a couple miles) people were looking at us, smiling, waving and saying hello.  We shouted back, “Mingalar Ba!”                             

I’m now sitting in my teak and thatch room at the Myanmar Beauty Hotel III after having a huge dinner that the hotel ordered out and brought to us.  We are at the end of the sandy dirt road and the view from my room is of rice paddies with mountains off in the distance.  Earlier we went up on a deck, had a beer and looked over the rice paddies while there was Indian/Hindu music playing loudly on the other side of the ride paddies.  Now there are what sounds like children or young girls chanting.  We have seen more nuns here than I’ve seen anywhere wearing pink robes.  The monks in Myanmar wear burgundy robes instead of the usual saffron one.  The food in Myanmar is acceptable, but not like Thai food where there’s great (and not scary) street food and restaurants everywhere serving up delicious meals.  This seems to be a cross of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and we can’t really find much that seems authentic, but it’s good and very inexpensive so no complaints.

Tomorrow we leave for Thazi on the train.  There are videos of the train online bouncing people out of their seats but it’s way shorter than the bus, so here we go.  We will spend one night in Thazi and catch the early morning Thazi to Shwengyaung 12-hour train.  This train travels at speeds of about 20 mph as it goes through mountains with switchback and has to go in reverse to make some of the turns.  Everyone who has taken it (and survived) loves it.  Kidding about the survived part.  After today, wifi will be non-existent until Inle Lake, so more then. 

Sunrise in Taungoo

 

Mingalar Ba!

View from Back of the Hotel

The title of this blog means Auspicious to you all!  I really like this guest house.  It is a small business and is one floor of a very large building.  We arrived last night by Nok Air from Bangkok and discovered from the flight attendant that there is a time difference of one half hour.  Who changes the time a half hour?  When the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel, I was a little dubious as the neighborhood is very untouristy and seems to be working class people who live here.  There were men sitting around small outdoor tables eating, drinking and smoking but not a woman present.  We asked a young man at our hotel where the women were and it's not traditional for them.  He said they are at home.  Despite the seeming sexual inequality, the people in Myanmar are really the nicest people I have ever met.  They try really hard to please you and say, "Sure, sure" all the time.  Most will smile as you walk past them on the street, wave to you as you go by on the train and seem genuinely happy to see you.  I have finally learned to say thank you in Burmese - kyei zu tin ba de.  That's a lot of syllables for thank you!  Men, women, children and even teenagers still wear the traditional longyi or sarong and there are relatively few cell phones, although you can tell that things are changing.  Today we rode the circular train which goes around Yangon.  It really gives you a feel for the place.  There were 3 other tourists on the whole train: a woman from Brazil and a young couple from Quebec.  It was a long, but fascinating ride with farms, villages, some very, very poor people, what we think was a prison and the most amazing farmer's market I've ever seen.  It was hard to capture as the train went past, even though it was a slow train, but there were beautiful and abundant fruits and vegetable.  The colors were amazing!  As my friend pointed out, they haven't figured out how to fleece the tourists yet.  The 3-hour train ride was about $1.25 US, dinner for 3 with 3 beers, a large water, 3 dishes and rice was $12.00 - lunch was even less.
An interesting fact about Myanmar is that the cars and buses have steering wheels on the right, but they also drive on the right!  It was determined some years ago to be "auspicious" to drive that way. I'm not so sure about that! 

Market Along the Tracks



Harvesting Morning Glories

A Scene from the Train

 Tomorrow we will explore some of the pagodas (stupas) in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) including Shwedagon Pagoda (the largest and the one seen in the distance in the photo).  Myanmar (formerly Burma) is known as the Land of the Pagodas and supposedly has more than any other country.

Impromptu Chinese New Year Celebration
Note the People in Background's Dress

The Police are Happy to Help . . .

Election Day in Bangkok

Tents for Some of the Protestors (from Sky Train Platform)

Today my friends took me to a really good sushi restaurant that happens to be very close to one of the major protest areas.  It was election day (still no alcohol) and things were actually pretty calm.  We walked down the Soi where the hotel that we were originally booked is located and, in an area usually full of tourists there were very few.  We stopped in Wendy House to say hi and find our how business was and if other tourists had changed their reservations as we had.  She explained her opinion of the protests and said they will probably go on for "about another month."  She also welcomed us and said we didn't have to worry if we want to stay there.  We all decided to see how things are when we return from Myanmar.  In Lumpini Park (a very large park and beautiful park) there were tents strewn throughout and in other areas there were people speaking through loudspeakers, musicians and people selling everything from red, white and blue t-shirts, jewelry, wristbands and whistles to things totally unrelated to the protests like shoes and underwear or hair ornaments. 
The thing that struck me was that everyone smiled at us as we walked by and, while I think we were all alert and aware of our surroundings, it didn't feel scary.  On the sky train a man, woman and boy about 6 years old got on the train all dressed in their protest clothes.  The woman whispered something to the little boy and he came over to us, smiled and shook our hands.  Really very cool!
Tomorrow we will be off to Myanmar.  Maybe they will know the winner of the election by the time we return to Bangkok.  While the situation is far too complex for this outsider to understand, it seems a bit counterintuitive and ironic to believe that you can achieve a better democracy by blocking an election.

                                                              Walking Along the Klong

Listening to Suthep

Bangkok - Same, Same - But Different!

Seoul - Inchon Airport

Boat on Chao Phraya
 

 

Okay, I've had Thai food, explored a bit and had my first Thai massage $6 US including tip).  I feel finally like I'm in Thailand!  Since my arrival here, I have not yet seen a protestor.  I'm fine with that.  I know they're here and I wish they'd go away.  I know I've said this before, but I really love this huge, bizarre city (in small doses).  While I haven't seen or experienced any of the troubles and violence, it has limited where we can go and what we can see and even what we can buy and consume!  (Selling alcohol is prohibited before and during the election.  The election is today.) 
Okay, now that I've said my piece.  I met up with my friends yesterday and we took the Sky Train to a lovely place on the Chao Phraya River called Asiatique which was full of restaurants, music, shops, people and activities.  We had a lovely dinner and rode to and, after getting off the Sky Train, rode a free boat from and to Asiatique. 


A Soi (lane) Near the Hotel

Backtracking a bit . . . The Bangkok Loft Inn is a really nice hotel in a traditional Thai neighborhood with hardly any tourists.  We chose this place because of its distance from all the protests.  However, finding it proved to be a challenge.  My taxi driver could not find it even with instructions written in Thai.  He spoke no English and kept saying, "mot, mot" and laughing!  I have no idea!  After asking five guards at different hotels and trying to drop me off at two hotels that had the word Bangkok in their name, he finally asked a motorcycle taxi.  Those guys are good!  They actually know where they're going! 
Not sure what is on the schedule for today - maybe a floating market and maybe lying low due the fact that the election is from 8-3 and they're expecting problems.  Tomorrow we're off to Myanmar which is possibly the frying pan into the fire: government protests or military dictatorship?  Right now, I'll take the latter!

Lanterns at the Restaurant

Ferris Wheel - Asiatique